Her Suspected Billionaire

Chapter 25

​Nathan was playing a video game when Evan got back from work.

“Hey, Evan. Welcome back,” he greeted, without taking his eyes off the screen. Evan dropped his briefcase and jacket on an armchair near the door and came over to stand behind Nathan. He noticed he was playing Call of Duty.

“You’ve been playing since you got home?”

“Yup. Which was about an hour ago. Damn, your screen is huge. It’s adding some kind of flavour to the game that I never even noticed it had.”

“You keep saying my TV is huge whenever you see it on video call over and over again, like it’s not the same TV you see every time,” Evan said, chuckling.

“Well, it’s much larger in…ooooo ohhhh!’ Nathan exclaimed. His character in the video game had just been struck dead by the characters he was trying to kill. He tossed the gamepad on the couch and held his hands behind his head, as Evan burst into laughter.

“I can’t understand why you’re so happy. At least I beat your high score,” Nathan said. Evan scoffed.

“Who said it was mine? I haven’t played Call of Duty since I got it.”

“What? So who had the high score?”

“Can’t tell. Maybe George’s nephew. He used to come over with George some times and I kept him entertained because he could be such a little pest sometimes,” Nathan replied, walking into the kitchen. Nathan got up and followed him.

“What do you do for fun, Evan?”

“Work out in my basement gym. Go for long runs…”

“Those aren’t fun stuff. That’s you ‘working’ out to keep fit. It’s still work technically. I mean, what do you do when you’re not working?”

“When am I not working?” Evan asked, taking out two glass bowls covered with foil from the refrigerator and placing them on the kitchen island.

“What about sculpting, bro?” Evan sighed and looked at Nathan with no expression and then returned his gaze to the bowls. He busied himself with unwrapping the foil from one of the bowls. Then he went over to one of the overhead cupboards, swung it open and took out a fancy looking ceramic bowl.

“You haven’t sculpted in a long time, have you?” Nathan asked, sitting on one of the bar stools by the island. That was Evan’s sign that he wasn’t going to drop the topic so easily.

“I simply don’t have time for it now. Sculpting is so much….work right now,” Nathan answered. He picked up an iron spoon from inside one of the drawers near the sink and began to dish some rice from the glass bowl into the ceramic bowl.

“Evan, you know you can still be a CEO and have fun, right?” Nathan began. “I know you’re busy but you’re not busy twenty four hours a day…”

“When I’m not busy, I’m eating. Like now, Nathan,” Evan cut in. He had unwrapped the foil from the second glass bowl now and was putting stir fry into the ceramic bowl. He had just put the bowl into the microwave and turned it on when Nathan spoke again.

“You don’t need much to have fun. Invite a few friends over for a movie. Go out for lunch like you did today. Sculpt in your basement before and after working out.”

“I don’t have a lot of friends, Nathan. You of all people should know that,” Evan said, calmly.

“Alice is your friend.” There was a long stretch of silence between them after Nathan spoke and the next sound they heard was the ding of the microwave, notifying them that the food was done.

​Evan picked up a kitchen towel, walked over to the microwave and got out his food.

“Should I microwave some for you?” he asked Nathan, without looking at him. Nathan answered in the negative. He had overfed at the festival he’d attended and had no desire to eat again that night.

“So you’re not gonna acknowledge the fact that Alice is your friend, Evan?”

“The last time my personal assistant was my friend, it ended badly.”

“Grace wasn’t just your friend. She was your girlfriend. And you guys were never friends before you started dating. Knowing you, you probably bullied or bought her over into dating you.”

“I don’t bully people, Nat,” Evan said, spooning some rice into his mouth. The heat from the food burnt his tongue and he spat it out immediately and ran to the sink to get some water. But Nathan was not going to shut up.

“Whatever makes you sleep better at night. ‘I like you, I know you like me too, Grace, and I believe we’d do well together as a couple.’ Does that sound romantic to you, Evan Sterling?” Nathan asked, with a scoff.

“The poor girl could not have said no. She would have lost her job, knowing you. And besides, you’re rich. Heck, you’re wealthy, Evan, and a hot piece of ass too. She knew she had nothing to lose.”

“She had a right to say no. She was just after my wealth,” Evan countered, still by the sink. He had come in hungry, but Nathan had made him lose his appetite, alongside the fact that his tongue was stinging from the burn.

“Let’s leave the past in the past, Evan. We’re talking about Alice now. You’re not gonna date her. She’s an interesting character. Go out for lunch with her once in a while. If you think you’re going to be profiled as the guy who gets with all his personal assistants, carry Edith or another member of staff along.”

“For someone who doesn’t work in Sterling or even live in this country for up to a year, you do recall the names of my members of staff pretty easily,” Evan commented, a wry smile on his face.

“Now, you’re just trying to derail off the subject, bro,” Nathan said, laughing and picked up the bowl of food that now lay abandoned on the kitchen island. He spooned some rice into his mouth while Evan stared at him.

“I thought you were not eating.”

“Thought so too, but the aroma of the stir fry is inviting. You really should give George a raise.”

“Reginald,” Evan corrected, rolling his eyes.

“Right, Reggie. I met him leaving when I got back though. Nice guy. Really fast worker. He seemed to be doing more than one thing at once and by the time I came out of my room, there was a lot of food everywhere.”

“He was supposed to come yesterday…”

“Cut him some slack, Evan. By the way, I got three tickets to the cinema for tomorrow. We’re seeing Moonfighter III.”

“You never asked if I’ve seen the first and second part,” Evan snickered, as he opened the refrigerator and got out a carton of fruit juice. He opened it and gulped down the contents straight from the carton.

“You don’t need to have seen them. You don’t even need to see this one. Just be there. It’s by 8p.m. I’ll come by your office so we’ll leave together. There’s no escaping this one.”

“Who’s the third ticket for?”

“You’ll see,” Nathan said, with a wink and dropped the now empty ceramic bowl on the island.

“Uhmm… aren’t you gonna wash that?”

“It was your bowl. I didn’t make this food. Besides, now I’m off to kick some butt and work out these extra calories you made me put on,” Nathan answered, running back to the living room.

​Evan giggled and downed the last of the fruit juice. He knew Nathan meant well for him. He also felt it was time to pursue his love for sculpting, even if only as a hobby for now. He quickly tidied up the kitchen, made a small bowl of cereal for himself and headed to the living room to watch Nathan play his video game.